Oral history interviewers' seminar.

• Author: Dahlitz, Dianne

Outside it was one of those brilliant cold June mornings that Canberra sometimes produces--crisp and windy, with a dusting of snow visible on the nearby hills. Inside the Conference Room of the National Library, however, a glow of enthusiasm warmed more than 40 of the Library's oral history interviewers who had come from Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Nowra, Forbes--indeed from all over Australia--for a full-day seminar. This was the first time in many years the Library had brought its community of interviewers together and, for many, the first time they had met their fellow oral historians.

Margy Burn, Assistant Director-General, Australian Collections and Reader Services, provided the opening words, placing emphasis on the high regard the Library has for its interviewers and the material they produce. This regard can only have grown as the participants...